Just a short entry this one. Having spent an hour swapping my gear over in the back of my car on Saturday in preparation to hit the Tummel sharp on Sunday morning ( taking the small advantage the one hour extra in bed as the clocks go back, gives us), I was most disappointed to be wakened several times overnight by high winds. The shorter days now man really you need to decide what you are doing early.
Procrastination
When I awoke ( not sure I was really sleeping) on Sunday round 07:30 the trees were giving it “laldie” being disturbed by gusty winds. Nymphing for Grayling requires good line control and having the wind bow the delicate line ‘twixt rod tip and water is no good to man nor beast. I wasn’t going to drive 130 miles round trip to be defeated by the weather. Nope, I chose early capitulation and went back to bed for a few hours!
A beautiful day that it was, and less cold than it looked, that wind continued to gust. I decided to use what hours were left of the morning and some of the afternoon to work on late edits of my Sutherland Adventure video. Something that I had kept picking up and putting down over the last 4-5 weeks and progress was slow.
A Late Bonus
Rising finally from the screen I noticed the kitchen clock said it was 14:55 and I guess in the back of my mind I had it that I might still get out for a few hours to wet a line, even if just locally to Swanswater. But at five to three in the afternoon the game was a bogey….it would be dark by 5pm. Then I realised the clock on the cooker hadn’t been put back, it was an hour ahead still!!
With no time to waste I was out to the garage, river gear out the car and rod and my boat box with everything I need in it in the car and I was at Swannies by 14:15, enough time to tackle up and get two hours in.
I don’t help myself having such short sessions as you will well know, it can take you a 2-3 hours simply to work out a tactic that is going to work…just look at Orchill last weekend?
I need not have worried. I had tied on the Golden Damsel “wonder fly” on the point with a Rapala Knot for the added mobility- I do this all the time now, and a couple of Diawl Bachs and attached this to an Intermediate line. The Island was quiet, most of the remaining anglers this late in the day were in boats. Ian who gave me my ticket said fish were being caught at the Dam Wall and there were two boats and two anglers on the bank targetting this area. I find when this area gets hammered a long cast from the corner of the island often gets the fish that have been pushed out by the pressure of being targeted.
Second Cast
My first cast merely got the Intermediate line wet, it needed to absorb a bit water and this got that process underway. Next cast withthe line fishing properly and a good pull right away and after a fair old scrap Rainbow number one was in the net, a very thick set fish that had to be three and a half pounds minimum.
Out on the boat nearest to me the chap there was casting, hooking and netting nearly every cast. he clearly had a pod of Golden Trout sat right in front of him against the wall and a Yellow Dancer was picking them off one by one.
My next cast but one, after my first fish was released and I had another strong pull that should have been a hookup but for my wet hands allowing the line to evade my grasp and thus a fish was missed. I had a couple of more tentative offers but these weren’t as positive so I opted to move ten yards to my left and try fresher water.
Within a dozen casts I had hooked another good-sized fish, this time a stunningly brightly coloured Golden Trout that was again in the three and a half to four-pound range. I would say it was slightly bigger than the first fish though put up less of a fight.
I wasn’t getting any offers though following this and noticed that suddenly the activity out on the boats had dried up too as the sun started to head behind the low hills behind the loch.
I moved again to the corner of the island into the narrow channel from the burn and casting out in front of me under the overhanging trees I soon had a thumping good take from a second Rainbow and netted this. Three fish in a little more than one hour wasn’t bad going but it was to remain thus as with the sun now dipping below the immediate near horizon, the temperature dropped, the wind rose again and the fish simply switched right off. All three were on the Goldie.
